Page 2578 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 25 September 2007
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I am aware that there are all kinds of complexities around the issue. Certainly, the Electoral Commission raised some of their concerns; no doubt it would have complicated their administration of the system. A year and a half further on, with a federal election to be held, there is a big campaign to make sure that people are on the electoral roll so that they can participate in the election. Sadly, a lot of young people do not know that the electoral roll closes on the day on which the poll is declared. It is a little bit like having optional voting, as they do in the US, where half the effort of the parties goes into making sure that people vote, as much as into making sure they vote for them. We do seem to be going down that track. In a sense, I see that as a form of disenfranchisement of young people. Even when they reach the eligible voting age, they may simply be disenfranchised by disengagement with the system.
I welcome all the recommendations that relate to improving and increasing the level of exposure that students get to civics and citizenship education. I am aware that, in the nineties, the federal government—I guess it was the Hawke-Keating governments—started a process of civics education in schools. I was involved at the time, from my place at the ANU, in contributing to the curriculum for young people. If we want young people to be engaged in their future—and it has probably never been more important that they are—we need to make sure that civics education engages them on issues with which they are concerned.
Young people probably do not know by rote the names of all our prime ministers; I do not think any of us do, either. They are very passionately interested in some of the issues that are of concern to many of us but they might place a different emphasis on issues. I am certainly finding that climate and environmental change and WorkChoices are two issues that young people seem to be very interested in engaging in at the moment.
I am sorry that the committee does not recommend that my motion be implemented. It is interesting that recommendation 1 is that the level of support for the proposal to lower the voting age be reconsidered by the Legislative Assembly before the end of 2010. I am not sure what the committee believes will have changed by then. Perhaps the federal government will have changed but I am not sure what else will have changed.
We need to make sure that schools and the community know about the excellent educational program in this place, which is hopefully becoming a more used resource. I think the education programs in the Assembly are fantastic. I know that, every time I see young people come in and be involved in them, they seem to think they are fantastic, too. The more engagement we can have by young people with our political systems, be they ACT or federal, the more we will have a better class of politicians in the future.
It is absolutely vital that we break down this idea that politicians are “them” to young people’s “us”. It represents a bit of a heads up for us to get out there as well and show that politics is not only really important but also can be fun and interesting. I still maintain that giving those young people who are engaged the possibility of voting from the age of 16 is a good move because, more than ever, the people who are in charge of their world are not reflecting their interests and needs.
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